CHAPTER 11 - Arab Storm

Summary

During the seventh century, the Prophet Mohammad laid the foundations of a new religion, Islam, and created a new type of army, a fighting force inspired by formidable fervour. His army exploded out of the Arabian Peninsula and captured the ancient city of Damascus in Syria and this city soon became the capital of the first Islamic dynasty, the Umayyad dynasty.

In Damascus today, the old city is dominated by the Umayyad Mosque which was built by Walid, the sixth Umayyad Caliph, between 705 and 715 CE. Walid destroyed the Christian Basilica of St John and built the mosque over the site. The head of St John the Baptist which lay beneath the former Basilica is enshrined within the mosque.

Just adjacent to the mosque was the Green Palace, named after its green dome, where the Umayyad caliphs lived and maintained their seraglios. The daughters of Dahir were condemned to death here. The Green Palace was completely destroyed in 750 CE by the Abbasids, the dynasty that succeeded the Umayyad.

The riches of India were legendary. It was only a matter of time before India would attract the attention of the Arab armies. In 710 CE, from the Green Palace, Walid sanctioned the invasion of India by an Arab army. This army conquered Sindh and Punjab and was poised to take Kanauj and the Gangetic plain.

In 715 CE, the two young daughters of the vanquished King Dahir of Sindh, slaves in the Caliph's harem at the Green Palace, through their guile, halted the Arab conquest of India.

As a result, though Sindh continued to remain under Arab rule, the rest of North India was given a respite of three centuries before they would yet again face invading foreign armies.

When the Prophet Mohammad went to Medina in 622 CE, he had no troops or war experience. Over the next ten years, he welded the various tribal militias into an Arab army. The Arabs were loyal to their own tribes, clans, and families. Through Islam, he united them into a common military brotherhood.

On judgment day, the non-believers are doomed to eternal hell. Disciples will be saved from damnation and would enter a paradise filled with groves, rivers, and fountains. They would live in riches, with numerous attendants.